On the court, Su Feng felt a slight pain in his chest.
Hiss—Kobe sure was generous.
He turned back and greeted Su Feng with a firm elbow.
In the 1990s, to counter the HC rules, perimeter players often used their elbows or dribbled strategically to protect themselves.
Take the 1998 NBA Finals, famously dubbed the "Elbow Feast." At the time, defenders leveraged the HC rules to brace their elbows, while attackers responded in kind. It was all about elbow play.
Of course, in one-on-one matchups, Su Feng and Kobe's level of physicality went beyond today's standard game play. Additionally, Su Feng had plenty of experience in "armor folding and striking," so Kobe's elbow wasn't much of a concern.
7-10, Nefalia's possession.
"These two guys are really interesting," said Duke University scout Wesley from the stands, growing increasingly excited.
To Wesley, Kobe was already a rare talent, while Su Feng was proving himself to be an elite defensive specialist.
Especially in one-on-one situations!
On the court, after a heads-up from his teammate Swartz, Donnell finally managed to stop Su Feng once.
As he retreated on defense, Swartz—who had endured Kobe "Death Glitter" countless times—rushed over to remind Donnell, "Man, just a heads-up—if you keep playing this way, be careful after the game…"
The moment he thought about Kobe's intense, fixated stare, Donnell instinctively shuddered.
No way!
He had to stop this Chinese player named Su Feng at all costs.
Donnell put up a fight.
But Su Feng couldn't guarantee every shot would go in.
This time, Su Feng faced strong interference. He released the shot, but to avoid getting blocked, he put a little too much force behind it, sending the basketball clanking off the rim.
Bang!
Kobe pivoted, leaped forward, and snatched the rebound with one arm.
That's Peter Pan for you—from battling one-on-five in high school!
Exhausting.
After securing the rebound, Kobe immediately dribbled back for a fast break, but Su Feng reacted swiftly. By the time Kobe reached Nefalia's three-point line, Su Feng was practically overlapping with him…
Boom!
"Oh hey—!"
Anticipation, positioning, a dramatic fall, and a well-timed yell...
Even Scola would have applauded Su Feng's defense in the future.
Beep!
The referee seemed rather pleased with Su Feng's performance. While handing Su Feng his Oscar, he called an offensive foul on Kobe.
Kobe, hit with the call, was mildly surprised.
"You know that trick too?" Bryant asked curiously, offering Su Feng a hand to get up.
Su Feng nodded. Drawing an offensive foul isn't difficult—the real challenge is the courage required for a defender to take that kind of contact.
After all, professional players sprint with full force, making the impact formidable.
In his previous life, Su Feng had watched Scola take charges all the time. But people often forget that Scola racked up plenty of injuries—his split eyebrow and fractured ribs could rival a small exhibit.
Su Feng successfully baited Kobe into an offensive foul largely due to his deep understanding of Kobe's tendencies.
Of course, Kobe knew Su Feng well too.
But Kobe had promised not to deliberately challenge Su Feng too hard, which gave Su Feng a slight advantage.
After months of intense matchups, they had learned each other's strengths inside and out.
(On the court, that is—don't overthink it.)
Back to the game—Nefalia attacked, while on the bench, Tony Jones and Anthony looked completely lost.
Because they were too distracted by Raul Merion?
Meanwhile, on Raul Merion's bench, Donner and his son were growing anxious.
Su Feng's impressive performance on the court had made them anticipate Kobe's steely gaze.
At that moment, the two Donners exchanged worried glances. If they had to sum up their feelings in four words, it'd be: What do we do?
Su Feng barely contained his laughter.
But he didn't sympathize with Donner and his son at all.
When Greg Donner first coached Raul Merion, he had tried to suppress Kobe due to his intense, obsessive personality.
As a result, Greg and Kobe ended up facing off one-on-one.
Of course, in Greg's mind, Kobe was just a kid, so he planned to go easy on him at first…
But unexpectedly, Greg got absolutely destroyed.
Frustrated, Greg told Kobe, "You may have beaten me, but in my opinion, you'll never compare to Carter!"
Greg's bitter remark deeply impacted Kobe.
In Su Feng's past life, that one sentence set Kobe on an obsessive path from which he never turned back.
A path that was merciless—both to himself and to others.
Although Kobe later said he would've worked just as hard regardless, Su Feng saw Greg Donner as more of an obstacle than a mentor.
Swish!
After a smooth spin move followed by a fadeaway jumper, the first quarter ended.
13-18—for an eight-minute quarter in a high school game, that wasn't a bad score.
On Nefalia's side, Su Feng had scored 11 points, while Captain Downs contributed the remaining 2. Raul Merion, on the other hand, had Kobe tallying all 18 of their points.
Donnell, assigned to guard Su Feng, was extremely frustrated.
After familiarizing himself with Su Feng's offensive patterns, he realized something: Su Feng had two go-to moves.
Pull-up jumpers and fadeaways.
And they were practically impossible to counter.
Put simply, Donnell was similar in height to Su Feng but lacked the same bounce. Su Feng's pull-up shots carried unpredictable variations, while his fadeaways were textbook-level nightmares.
Even when facing Kobe one-on-one, Donnell…
Well, let's just say defending Su Feng was the lesser evil.
He was suffocating!
Listening to the crowd's reactions, Donnell felt like a joke.
Luckily, at a critical moment, Bryant came to his rescue.
"Robby, in the second quarter, you take Su Feng!" Kobe instructed his teammate Robbie Swartz.
Swartz, humming to himself, was caught off guard.
"What?"
"Huh?" Kobe glared at him.
"Understood, boss!" Swartz quickly straightened up.
He wouldn't dare refuse.
Recalling that brutal hour and 27 minutes, Swartz shuddered uncontrollably.
Do you know how Swartz endured that time?
It felt like being stalked by a viper, unable to move.
Almost suffocating!
combo (3/4)